About the Burned Essay

Remains of a fire - a portion of a melted computer keyboard.

I got the idea to photograph items from fires while covering the Harrisonburg Fire Department’s fire safety education display exhibited at the Valley Mall in the city each year.

I was struck by how many of the items look like some sort of modern art, even thought I know a tragedy was responsible for the weirdly textured, melted and charred items.

Every time I return to the scene of a fire with investigators for follow-up stories, I am moved by the destruction fire can cause. Seeing pieces of a family’s life burned and soaking wet is a humbling experience.  I’ve often thought that if more people could tour a home after a fire, they would be extra careful in their own homes.

While that is not possible, I decided to go for the next best thing. I hope people who see these photographs realize the devastation fire can cause, and it moves them to do everything they can to prevent fire in their own homes.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 7:20 pm. It is filed under Dispatches, On Assignment and tagged with Commentary, Dispatches, fire, linkedin, photojournalism, photojournalist, Portraits, Remains, Virginia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.